Top technology trends that will dominate 2018

The year 2017 saw technological advancements that revolutionised the way the world works. For example, probably the most cited advancement of 2017 is that of deep machine learning, also known as Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI can cut through the noise to derive an almost immediate answer to real-time situations.

AI has fast become critical when it comes to dealing with Big Data. Human capacity has its limitations, and that’s exactly why AI holds so much potential.

2017 also saw more and more of our lives being “datafied”. Whether it’s spending time on social media sharing information, paying for a coffee or watching videos online, we are constantly leaving behind a trail of data.

2018 will see a growth in that pattern as we expect an explosion of data.

According to research, just in the average minute, Facebook receives 900 000 logins, more than 450,000 Tweets are posted, and 156 million emails and 15 million texts are sent. These numbers alone are evidence of why global researchers say we’re essentially doubling the amount of data created in the world roughly every two years.

Another massive trend we can look forward to over the next 12 months is the leaps and bounds being made in tech advances as a result of increasing computing power. Between 1975 and 2015, computing power doubled at a rate of every two years, before slowing to the current rate of approximately every two and a half years.

But because of Big Data we have broken the traditional computing power limits and the world is now moving towards developing quantum computing solutions.

This will see computers becoming exponentially faster than they are right now. Tech leaders are in a race to launch the first commercially viable quantum computer, capable of solving problems that today’s computers can’t handle.

Probably the advancement that will be most immediately felt is the unstoppable rise of automation. The more intelligent computers become, the more tasks that they can do for us. The most important skill going forward for any person from blue collar to management will need, will be a proficiency in coding. Algorithms and robots will still need humans to program them, and so in order to be more relevant in a fast evolving economy, understanding technology is the only way to go.